Civil War invades Loveland

Saturday was the first day of the Loveland Public Library's traveling exhibit that kicked off with a reenactment

By Shelley Widhalm Reporter-Herald Staff Writer

Posted:
08/18/2012 08:37:40 PM MDT

Visitors to the Loveland Public Library check out an 1860s-era soldiers' camp set up outside the library building on Saturday as part of the traveling exhibit: "Lincoln: The Constitution and the Civil War." From left to right are Dominik Rice, 5; Niko Rice, 19; Jonathan McLaughlin, 6; Ruby McLaughlin, 8; Sharon Ritchey, Geoff Hunt and Larry Gillam. (Steve Stoner)

Shannan Stevens, like all of the ladies of her time, had to learn how to sit in her hoop skirt by making sure to avoid sitting on the bones, or the ribs that puff out the cotton.

If Stevens were a true lady of the Civil War era, she would be changing her outfit three or four times a day. But she was stuck with the walking, or day, clothes she wore Saturday afternoon to the first of more than a dozen activities associated with the Loveland Public Library's exhibition on the Civil War era.

"It's appropriate for socializing in the mid- to the late part of the day," said Stevens, a member of the 1st Colorado Volunteer Infantry, adding that the other dresses of the day are for morning, evening and special occasions.

The library is hosting the traveling exhibit, "Lincoln: The Constitution and the Civil War," through Sept. 27. The exhibit, a project of the American Library Association and National Constitution Center, examines how President Abraham Lincoln used the Constitution to confront three intertwined crises of the Civil War: that of the secession of the Southern states, slavery and wartime civil liberties.

To complement the exhibit, the library organized more than a dozen children's, teen and adult programs and activities, including the visit from the 1st Colorado Volunteer Infantry reenactment group.

"I'm hoping it will excite the crowd to come in and look at the Lincoln exhibit and join us for the other programs for the six weeks the exhibit is here," said Beth Gudmestad, teen librarian.

The reenactment group set up a camp, an abolitionist rally table and crafting circles for three hours on the library grounds.

"To see it makes it so much more real," said re-enactor Renee Saba, who knitted a scarf, as Stevens counted her Confederate dollars, about $400 to $600 worth that she would need to live on for a year. "It compresses distance and time, so you can get a taste of what it was like."

Over at the soldiers' camp of dog tents propped up by sawed-off limbs, six reenactors demonstrated the daily living and training soldiers endured during the Civil War.

"You could always tell a veteran soldier. He carried just what he needed," said Sven Hillring, a member of the 1st Colorado Volunteer Infantry reenacting an infantryman corporal on the Union side.

Hillring's list of what he carried included half the tent, a blanket, a cup with a cover and a canteen, which soldiers would separate off the metal covers to use as plates. He also carried a musket with a bayonet attached.

"When you're out on the field, you get rally creative," said Hillring, who wore a wool sack coat, the precursor of the modern sports coat, wool trousers and brogans. "You get very creative and know what you need in the field."

The American Anti-Slavery Society, a group of first-person reenactors and members of the 1st Colorado Volunteer Infantry, reenacted an abolitionist rally and asked the passing public to sign petitions to end slavery.

"Abolitionists were civilians, fairly urban people of means," said Sherri Yockey, a reenactor leading the rally with her husband, John Yockey of Fort Collins. "We help people to understand the abolitionist movement and what this particular abolitionist group stood for. This group was advocating for immediate abolishment of slavery."